Gig Review: Saturday Night is Boogie Night

of Montreal and CasioKids, Digital Brighton, 24th January 2009

It’s Saturday night, it’s 10.46pm and I’m at home. I love early gigs. They are THE absolute best. They involve less waiting around, the stage turnaround has to be tight, there’s more time to banter afterwards and, if you like, you can return home before you're ready to drop. We walked home along the beach. It was very lovely.

of Montreal certainly know how to put on a show, and if anyone ever dares to say that they don’t put the effort in, they’ll be shot at dawn.

When I saw that ‘of Montreal’ were playing Brighton, all those moons ago, I was delighted. ‘Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?’ is a brilliant album, and the idea of bouncing about to it at a gig, on a Saturday night no less, had my vote.

In October, their ninth studio album ‘Skeletal Lamping’ came out, and shortly after buying my ticket, I got a listen in. ‘Hmmmm’ I thought. I lived in hope that their eighth album would fill the live show.

The question should have been ‘what doesn’t fill the live show?’ I had no reason for doubt.

Even the stage manager, sound-check dude, wore a suit. of Montreal were introduced to the audience by a tall man in a giant tiger mask, who would later eat a small gimp’s crotch. Yes, you read that right.

With a film running in the background, Kevin Barnes looked suitably glam, with sparkling blue eye make-up and a gloriously frilly shirt. The shirt changed colour and style mid-set, but was no less ‘Prince Charming’. Bryan Poole hid behind rock star shades and the rest of the band hid behind the front men and a post. They are a band that like to hide. They hide behind make-up, costumes and structural necessities.

One man had more apparel than most. The gimp was more than a sex toy. He was the moustachioed muscle man of a million masks. Trotting on and off stage in outfit after outfit, he put as much effort in as the band. And the band were slick. SLICK SLICK SLICK.

The one and a half hour set could have been trimmed to maintain momentum, but otherwise the performance was faultless; perfect singing, polished segues, and relentless pace.

Like me, the audience seemed happiest with songs from the ninth album. For these tracks, they did dance. For the rest they shuffled and swayed.

Download MP3: of Montreal - Suffer For Fashion (courtesy of saladdaysmusic.net)




Download MP3: of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse (courtesy of saladdaysmusic.net)




Download MP3: of Montreal - A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger (courtesy of indierockcafe.com)



The encore, a cover of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, was played and received with marvellous jolly rapture. Never much of a Nirvana fan, I must say that it was far better than the original, with a pumping rhythm and great vocals.

Casiokids in the support slot were FUN. They are not kids though; they have wrinkles! Casiokids are from Norway and they have just released this little number:

Download MP3: Casiokids - Grønt lys i alle ledd (courtesy of magnetmagazine.com)



Norway is where Kevin Barnes of 'of Montreal' sings that he lived on the verge of a total breakdown. I wonder if he met the Casiokids there. It's not all black metal bands.

Fabpants Recommends: I came across a band that reminded me of Foals. As this is a bit of a dance themed post, let’s hear ‘em. This is Rogues:

Download MP3: Rogues - Not So Pretty (courtesy of theburningear.com)